Canfor Announces Restructuring of Its BC Lumber Operations to Better Align With Long-Term Timber Supply

Canfor Corporation announced on Wednesday (1-25-23) that it is restructuring its BC operations to better align manufacturing capacity in the province with available long-term timber fiber supply. As a result, Canfor said it was permanently closing its Chetwynd sawmill and pellet plant.

In the same press release, Canfor also announced a temporary but an extended shutdown of its Houston sawmill facility to facilitate a major redevelopment of the site. According to the Canfor, it intends to build a new, modern, globally competitive manufacturing facility in Houston that will employ state of the art technology to produce high value products from the sustainable timber in the region. The company says that project planning, scoping, preliminary engineering, and budgeting are currently underway.

The company will also perform a study of available economic fiber and a thorough project financial analysis, supporting a final investment decision that is expected by the end of 2023Q2.

Canfor says that both facilities will be closed following an orderly wind down of operations, which is expected to conclude early in 2023Q2. The closures of both Chetwynd and Houston will remove approximately 750 million board feet of annual production capacity.